Canadian Red Cross Finds Immigration Detainees Held In Inadequate Conditions

OTTAWA - A confidential Red Cross investigation found numerous shortcomings at Canadian facilities for immigrant detainees including triple-bunked cells, lack of support for detained children and inadequate mental-health care.

In addition, because there are no dedicated immigration cells in many parts of the country, newcomers are often held in provincial jails or police facilities alongside suspected gang members and violent offenders, says the Canadian Red Cross Society's inspection report.

Commentary: Commons Speaker needs to resign

On Monday, Andrew Scheer, Speaker of the House of Commons, killed a vote to extend hate crime protection to transgender people, citing an obscure parliamentary rule.

On Tuesday, Scheer ignored an obscure parliamentary rule as he allowed a government MP to make a mockery of question period.

As the House’s referee, it is the Speaker’s job to interpret and enforce many obscure rules. Scheer is a soft-spoken, amiable and utterly likable guy. And what he has allowed to happen under his watch is a travesty.

The other trial Stephen Harper would rather avoid

The prime minister’s legal team is attempting to shield Stephen Harper in a defamation lawsuit launched against him by a national Muslim group, according to new court documents obtained by iPolitics.

But the National Council of Canadian Muslims’ (NCCM) lawyer says he expects Harper will be questioned, as he remains a party in the organization’s case against him and his director of communications, Jason MacDonald.

Obama Calls On The World To Help Destroy ISIS

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday appealed to the global community to help the United States bring down Islamic State militants, saying it will take a broad coalition "to dismantle this network of death."

In remarks before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Obama conveyed a strong message of collectivism, calling not just on the international community to reject violent extremism but also on the Muslim community to reject it. He used the word "collectively" four times; "together" 12 times; and "cooperation" four times.

Minimum Wage Hike Has Strong Support Among Employers, Survey Finds

Poll after poll indicates that the vast majority of Americans believe the minimum wage isn't high enough. Apparently, a lot of U.S. employers agree.

A national survey of 2,000 human resource and hiring managers done for the job search site CareerBuilder found that most of those managers think the minimum wage in their state should be at least $10 per hour. No state currently has a minimum wage of $10, although many have a higher wage floor than the federal level of $7.25.

U.S., Allies Launch More Airstrikes In Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and two Arab allies took aim Wednesday at a key source of financing for Islamic State militants, bombing 12 of the oil refineries controlled by the terrorist group in Syria, the military said.

Black market oil contributes up to $2 million a day to the militant group, and the attacks targeted the small-scale refineries in remote sections of eastern Syria in an effort to choke off its funding. U.S. Central Command said the refineries produce between 300 barrels and 500 barrels of refined petroleum daily.

Colleges Win, Student Borrowers Lose In Obama Administration Absolution

The U.S. Department of Education is turning its back on at least 1,000 borrowers in favor of shielding their former colleges from potentially crippling sanctions that would have resulted from high rates of default on federal student loans.

The move, announced late Tuesday and further detailed on Wednesday, concerns an Obama administration decision not to punish as many as 20 schools for loan defaults caused by questionable servicing practices overseen by the Education Department.

Cities Reject Minister's Proposal They Help Pay for BC Ferries

Representatives of British Columbian municipalities meeting in Whistler this week rejected Transportation Minister Todd Stone's suggestion that local governments should contribute money to run BC Ferries.

"Local governments don't provide funding to BC Ferries because it is a provincial transportation system, and that's the end of the conversation," said Sheila Malcolmson, chair of the Islands Trust.

How Downloaded Costs Are Steamrolling Local Governments

From public transit and recreation facilities, to drinking water treatment, sewage infrastructure, and policing and fire services, local government services are at the centre of our daily lives, our health and our economic prosperity. And in Canada, sewer, water, garbage and recycling infrastructure and services come from your local government for less than the price of a home cable, Internet and television package.

People who live in Maple Ridge, B.C., for example, pay much less for municipal fire services monthly than the typical monthly cost of a home security alarm service. Put another way, the municipality charges less to have a fire truck sent to your house than a private security company charges just to call the fire department or police when an alarm is triggered.

With FIPA, Harper Shows There's More than One Way to Skin a Constitution

Is Stephen Harper on crack? Why would someone who was such an outspoken critic of communist China sign the Canada-China FIPA -- a three decade investment treaty so disadvantageous to this country that the Financial Post called the terms "unbecoming a nation state." So bad is this deal for Canada that experts worry that it would effectively allow closed door trade tribunals to undermine the authority of Parliament or even our constitution.

Could it be that Harper signed the FIPA because it was such a terrible deal? Let me explain. Harper's abiding preoccupation during his tenure has been scaling up resource exports, particularly Alberta's bitumen by pipeline to the B.C. coast. To that end, the Harper government has gutted Canadian environmental laws and made National Energy Board rulings subject to cabinet approval.